| The inception of developing underground horticulture at the
Copper Range White Pine Mine began from a 1996 National Geographic article
featuring Prairie Plant System’s (PPS) Underground Growth Chamber (UGC)
Operations located in Flin Flon, Manitoba. With White Pine Mine operations
scheduled to cease in the near future, PPS’s operations appeared to offer
a viable solution which would provide an alternative use for the White Pine
Mine. |
| Prairie Plant operates a 1,000 square foot chamber
in an abandoned section of Hudson Bay Mining Company’s Callihan Nickel Mine.
The project has generated modest contract research revenue, but significant
research results. In past years the Company has completed research projects
for a variety of customers and crops that range from canola to commercial
orchids to hybrid trees. Experiments in the UGC have been completed for
Union Camp Inc., Dow AgroSciences Inc., the University of Calgary and numerous
other organizations. |
| After reading the 1996 National Geographic article
on Prairie Plant Systems, White Pine Mine’s CEO, Eric Dudson, contacted
PPS’s management and invited them to view the White Pine Mine This opportunity
would allow White Pine Mine to explore future possibilities of similar operations
in their mine. |
| Since that time, several studies were completed
to evaluate the production, market, and tourism potential for an underground
growth chamber at the White Pine Mine. All reports presented favorable results
leading to a leasing arrangement between PPS and Copper Range Company for
access to the mine. Prairie Plant System’s conversion of the White Pine
Mine to SubTerra Systems would transform the underground mine into a sophisticated,
computer controlled growth chamber which would grow high-value biopharmaceutical
plants in a bio-secure environment. |
